Raw Signal Group

None of this is real and it doesn't matter - Raw Signal Group The difference between the theater of work and actual work.

Speaking of which, I encourage you all to read @rawsignal.ca's newsletter today: www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

"[Eric Schmidt thinks] automating away the humans is righteous b/c it will reduce dependence on entitled employees, and produce appropriate level of fear/obedience in ones who remain."

🫶🫶🫶

Maybe I’m just hormonal but @rawsignal.ca - you weren’t supposed to make me cry today.

every time something comes along that dismantles a symbolic barrier / economic class skill check, that barrier will be replaced with a new/different barrier.

one aside based on @rawsignal.ca:

I once heard it touted that AI would level the field for marginalised people, by ensuring people who'd never created a pitch deck/cover letter could make one now.

if VCs are no longer reading pitch decks because they're all AI, then they're going on "gut" = bias

None of this is real and it doesn't matter - Raw Signal Group The difference between the theater of work and actual work.

The difference between the theater of work and actual work.

www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

How did they not know? - Raw Signal Group We're still in the early days, this is still mostly anecdotes, but the anecdotes are multiplying fast. And they're haunting.

"Sorta like Napster, just post-DMCA."

IYKYK

www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

How did they not know? - Raw Signal Group We're still in the early days, this is still mostly anecdotes, but the anecdotes are multiplying fast. And they're haunting.

"We are huge believers in the power of skilled managers, but that cannot be your org’s whole answer to tech that talks back.

If you’re in a shop that requires your people to use chatbots as part of their job, this is a conversation you need to start"
@rawsignal.ca
www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

Today, over in CEO-club, all the cool kids are forcing their employees to use AI. They write bombastic internal emails, and then post those publicly for their CEO friends to admire and riff on. They tie AI usage to performance evaluation and compensation. They tie it to promotions and headcount requests. These CEOs, many of whom have woefully incomplete policies on hate speech and harassment, are clear-as-day that failing to use this or that LLM is an immediately fireable offence. It's fair to ask why one should have to compel people to use a tool if it's so obviously incredible, but the CEOs are prepared for that question. Of course the tools are incredible, and many of their team members are already using them. But the pace of adoption needs to be faster. CEO social circles are often full of AI investors who assure them that even more powerful AI is just around the corner. And if their teams need some tough love in order to get with the program and see the vision, so be it.

reading this week's @rawsignal.ca email on the bus, almost missed my stop

"It's fair to ask why one should have to compel people to use a tool if it's so obviously incredible." @rawsignal.ca on the AI boomlet and the hazards to their own workers many tech CEOs are ignoring.

Mandatory reading today from @rawsignal.ca: mailchi.mp/rawsignal/ho...

It is offensive how good @johnathan.bsky.social and @shappy.bsky.social are at nailing the workplace issues around AI.

How did they not know? - Raw Signal Group We're still in the early days, this is still mostly anecdotes, but the anecdotes are multiplying fast. And they're haunting.

We're still in the early days, this is still mostly anecdotes, but the anecdotes are multiplying fast. And they're haunting.

www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

The narrowest definition of ambition - Raw Signal Group The people who tout this model of ambition have a whole cinematic universe of heroes and villains and moral dramas and cautionary tales.

The people who tout this model of ambition have a whole cinematic universe of heroes and villains and moral dramas and cautionary tales.

Betterboss - Raw Signal Group Betterboss is an in-person intensive for senior leaders (Directors, VPs, C-suite, founders) to work on the specific challenges of their roles.

Have you been to a program and called it "the most transformative experience of my career so far?"

That's what an actual leader said about an actual program. About Betterboss, in fact.

If your career needs some transformation...

Applications are open for the October cohort: betterboss.ca

Busy is not a personality - Raw Signal Group What would you do if you had a week to just clear out backlog?

What would you do if you had a week to just clear out backlog?

www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

Pulse: Ambition - Raw Signal Group Pulse is a morning business rave. We come together for an hour to go deep on a single topic.

If you've been feeling stuck.

And don't know what you'd do next.

If you've been feeling disconnected from your work.

And chanting "it's just a job, who cares" in your head isn't making it easier.

The next Pulse is for you.

One hour. Friday, July 18. $99 to attend. All proceeds donated to Eva's.

We've been talking with more people lately who are really struggling to find meaning at work. Who feel like they can go through the motions but aren't really sure what it's leading to or why they should care. They do care, but they feel like they're being punished for caring, and that their work would be easier if they didn't. They see friends and colleagues who have already embraced not caring, but they themselves are still raging against the dying of the light. It's hard not to see these things as related. Because we already have a word for this. For what happens when deep, reflective, critical thinking and engagement is diminished. When everything turns into a shrug. And nothing really rises to the level of mattering very much. In other contexts, we call that thing depression.

And you can tell us it's sampling bias if you like, but we have had very few leaders come to us and tell us how much better their team is working, how much more vital and excellent they feel, after involving a GPT.

This week's newsletter from @rawsignal.ca is really pushing the painful buttons. "Bring your slop to work day", AI in the workplace (for management, in particular). Push-back against LLM use and "punishment for caring"...wooooof. Yeah

Bring your slop to work day - Raw Signal Group It's definitely giving some low-key asbestos vibes.

It's definitely giving some low-key asbestos vibes.

www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

Bring your slop to work day - Raw Signal Group It's definitely giving some low-key asbestos vibes.

Do you really hate the work that much?
www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

The switching costs aren't that high - Raw Signal Group Is this what it means to work with a vendor these days?

Is this what it means to work with a vendor these days?

www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

20k of headache - Raw Signal Group If one more exec pastes one more link about workplace dips in productivity, the managers are going lose it.

If one more exec pastes one more link about workplace dips in productivity, the managers are going lose it.

www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

The poser manifesto - Raw Signal Group We talk with people building amazing things all the time, from founders to interns, and none of them sound like this.

We talk with people building amazing things all the time, from founders to interns, and none of them sound like this.

www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

OH @rawsignal.ca HQ on Newsletter Tuesday:

"I don't think we can add in the Fraggle Rock thing cause it's gonna take at least 150 words to explain what we're talking about"

Why We Are Approaching Change All Wrong – And What to Do Instead We Not Me · Episode

Ahh! A newsletter shoutout in the wild! 💌

The latest episode of the We Not Me podcast features @wetherhold.bsky.social in an amazing conversation about change.

And it includes his highly recommended books + pods + resources.

Including a newsletter that's "a bit of a risk" (at the 33-min mark) 😏😏😏

Screen grab of a newsletter post. Title is: The enshittification of work" Date "April 2, 2025" Text: The froth has subsided. And in its wake, organizations have found some truly short-sighted approaches to labour. Image: small black beetle pushing fibrous brown ball against a background of red sand.

The froth has subsided.

And in its wake,
organizations
have found
some truly

short-signed

approaches to

labour.

www.rawsignal.ca/newsletter-a...

The enshittification of work - Raw Signal Group The froth has subsided. And in its wake, organizations have found some truly short-sighted approaches to labour.

The froth has subsided. And in its wake, organizations have found some truly short-sighted approaches to labour.

Pulse: Change - Raw Signal Group Pulse is a morning business rave. We come together for an hour to go deep on a single topic.

On Friday morning, we’re getting together to talk about Change. Change like the spring equinox. Like Q2. Like all the headlines lately. Like…so many things, at work and not at work.

❣️This Friday. 10-11 am eastern. On zoom.❣️

It's $99 to register and we're donating all proceeds to Friends of Ruby.

Multi-coloured yoga mats

Singing bowls with a chevron in the middle

Sometimes we do management training.

And sometimes we do…other things.

🧘

Where are the people-pleasers? - Raw Signal Group The biggest issue for people-pleasing leaders isn't that they need to be tougher. Or scream more. Or play a different boss on TV.

The biggest issue for people-pleasing leaders isn't that they need to be tougher. Or scream more. Or play a different boss on TV.

What Brandon said.